


Beyond The Stars

by AXEe



Category: Original Work
Genre: Animals, Anthropomorphic, Gen, I Don't Even Know, Inspired By Star Trek, Inspired by The Orville
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:14:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23456104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AXEe/pseuds/AXEe
Summary: More original work from me folks! Enjoy! :=)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 1





	1. The Expanse

**Author's Note:**

> More original work from me folks! Enjoy! :=)

******

Long ago, there was a planet called ‘Earth’, the people of this world—after centuries of war, disease, and hardship—finally grew tired of such strife and banded together and stretched out into the stars, and although they found no other intelligent life out among the stars, they nevertheless remained united in their purpose, forming a great interstellar nation that they called the ‘Solarian Expanse’.

For nearly two thousand years, the Expanse grew and spread, settling on dozens of worlds, and then, one day, it all ended. It is said that the entirety of the Solarian Expanse fell into anarchy and chaos in a single day and night

No one knows exactly when, how, or why the Expanse fell. Some say that it was a disease, spread from ship to planet and from planet to planet, or perhaps it was some kind of awful experiment gone horribly awry. Others say that it was a war, while others suggested that it was some kind of natural disaster of cosmic proportions. And others still say that the Expanse collapsed under its own weight, having eradicated want for its citizenry, its culture grew hedonistic and stagnated.

But whatever the reason, the fact remained, the Expanse fell; the Human race—once numbering in the trillions—soon dwindled to but a fraction of that size, their numbers reduced by the war and disease that inevitably followed the fall, and many of them abandoned their colonies, scattering into the stars, becoming nomads living aboard aging generational ships, while others, having lost virtually all of the knowledge that the children of Earth had gained, descended into barbarism and destroyed themselves.

For nearly three thousand years, Earth and the former worlds of the Expanse were plunged into a period that later historians termed the ‘Long Night’, with some planets completely collapsing into a pre-industrial state, while others who had retained their spacefaring capabilities became bitter enemies with their former allies, in near-constant war with one another.

But then, as the Long Night was at its height, something incredible happened. No one can say exactly how it happened, some attributed it to the will of a divine being, others to a genetic experiment gone wrong, and others attributed it to a random quirk of simple evolution. But however it happened, on many of the planets that had been colonized and since abandoned by Earth, the animals that had been brought to these new and alien environments by the first settlers began to _change_.

In a rapid pace that defied the preexisting understanding of evolution, these animals—once native to Earth—began to develop in a way akin to the ancient Humans of Earth, many of them reaching full sentience in only a few short thousand years.

The Human race, once the sole dominant species in known space, was now but one species among many.

In some cases, these new creatures were able to study and replicate the technology left behind by the former residents on their respective worlds, soon setting out into the stars themselves to explore, to discover, and—in some unfortunate cases—to war, while others remained where they were, either out of fear of the unknown, or due to ignorance, held back by whatever dogma their respective culture held dear.

On one such world, once known as ‘New Earth’ but now called ‘Terralysium’, the descendants of a population of timber wolves evolved into a new species that called themselves the ‘Solari’. Like humanity before them, the Solari suffered through incredible hardships, but soon set aside their differences and stretched out into the stars, and as they did so they found entire worlds now _teeming_ with life.

The deeply scientific serpentine ‘Varda’ hailing from the planet of the same name.

The avian militaristic and hierarchical ‘Javein’.

And dozens more.

And as these different species all met came the revelation that they—and indeed most of the sentient life that now existed in known space—were all descended from a common ancestry.

The differing species reacted to this startling revelation in a variety of different ways. Some embraced it, while others rejected it outright, refusing to believe it and attacking all who said different. Others accepted it but still claimed that their individual species was nonetheless superior to others.

But for many of these new species, these new children of Earth, this knowledge of a shared, common ancestry made them allies instead of enemies. The revelation gave them a shared purpose, a common goal, and they freely shared their knowledge and cultures with one another. And, slowly, these alliances began to coalesce into something stronger, something greater, an interstellar union built upon the shared ideals of equality and tolerance, which was soon given a name befitting its new status.

It was called the ‘Interstellar Commonality’.

This new union set out into the universe to explore, to rediscover any lost colonies of Earth, but mostly just to _know_ what was out there. To know just what lay beyond the stars…


	2. Taking a Chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter TWO! Enjoy :=)

******

**Common Central, Terralysium  
Standard Date: K5.10/00**

Grey Howlin took a slow, steading breath. Breathe in, hold it, and breathe out. Hands braced on the washbasin, the Solari woman scowled at her reflection in the mirror, pulling a face at what she saw. Gods she was getting old. Her fur, once a beautiful shimmering black that had been the envy of many, was now streaked with grey, and there was a definite roundness to her hips where there had been none before.

But the real pull to the tail was the fact that she yet to captain a starship. Compared to other newly-minted officers in the fleet, she was old—practically ancient—nearly forty-five standard years old, and many people wondered why she had joined the training center at Common Point ‘now’ when it had been her dream to command a starship from a very young age.

In all honestly she couldn’t give them a real straight answer except for the very vague—but painfully accurate—response of _‘life got in the way’_ (and boy had it!). But now, finally, all of that was about to change.

She hoped…

******

Stepping into Admiral Ozawa’s office, Grey took another nervous breath as the Human woman gestured for her to sit down.

“Grey, you’re looking good” the Admiral greeted.

“Thank you, Admiral” Grey replied as she sat down.

Leaning forwards across her desk Admiral Ozawa casually laced her fingers together.

“I’m going to cut right to the chase here, Grey,” she began “we have a ship for you”

Grey froze, her hand halfway towards the bowl of mints on the desk. For a moment she simply stood there, blinking like the proverbial deer in the headlights (and just what was a ‘deer’ anyway? And why would it be in the headlights, whatever they were, blinking or otherwise?).

“I’m sorry, what?” surely she misheard that.

“We have a ship for you,” Admiral Ozawa repeated.

OK, so she hadn’t misheard it.

“It’s a small ship,” the Admiral continued “a mid-range explorer. The C.S.S. _Endeavor_. He’s yours, if you want it” she explained.

Grey felt her eyes narrowing.

“With respect, Admiral, but…is there a catch?”

The Admiral’s smirk became somewhat predatory.

“You could say that,” she nodded “I’m not lying when I say that you would not be the Admiralty’s first choice for captain. Or even the second choice, honestly. Your inexperience is one hurdle,” she explained “your rather ‘relaxed’ attitude towards the chain of command and various codes of conduct is another,” she turned to her terminal, pulling up a file “you’ve regularly questioned orders, your work’s been described as ‘sloppy’, and I’m told that during a routine piloting scenario you switched to manual control and sheared off a cargo door”

“That last one was not entirely my fault, ma’am,” Grey felt obligated to point out “the instructor was the one who disengaged the autopilot”

“And that technicality is probably the only reason that you’re still here,” the Admiral continued “that, and the fact that all of your instructors agree that, in spite of your flaws, you are also one of the most driven and dedicated officers they’ve seen,”

She shut off the terminal and turned to face Grey fully.

“Personally, you are _not_ my first choice for this assignment,” she stated pointblank “but…the fleet needs captains,” she leaned forwards “so, I’m going to take a chance and give _you_ a chance”

Grey stood up, snapping to attention.

“You can count on me, Admiral”

“Stop kissing my ass, Howlin”

“Sorry”

“Better,” the Admiral nodded “and that’s what the Commonality needs. We need captains who don’t blindly follow orders but who trust their gut, who can adapt to strange and new situations, and I think that might just be you,” she picked up a slate off the desk and held it out to Grey “the _Endeavor’s_ captain is retiring in a few days, the ship already has a full crew compliment. All that’s missing is the captain and first officer,”

She held out the slate towards Grey.

“Well?” she asked…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: In most countries ships are often called 'she', in the Russian tradition however 'he' is used instead


	3. A Tall Ship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter THREE! Enjoy folks! :=)

******

Grey scrolled through the slate for the umpteenth time. The _Endeavor_ was a small ship, having a crew of only three hundred (give or take) spread out among the standard divisions of Command, Sciences, Medical, Engineering, and Security. As an explorer, the science complement outnumbered the command or engineering crews with the security crew being the only division that came close to equaling the scientists, and the crew was also allowed to have their families onboard with them, with much of the number of total persons onboard being civilians, which was fine with Grey, she was almost stereotypically Solari in that way, hailing from a big family where everybody stuck their noses into everybody else’s business.

Grey paused at that, suddenly thinking about her family, her estranged daughter specifically. She and Circe hadn’t spoken in close to a year and that last ‘conversation’ had been more of an argument that had ended in a spectacular fashion and the girl cutting off almost-all ties with Grey and the rest of her family.

Shaking her head, Grey went back to the file in front of her.

In addition to the crew and their families, the _Endeavor_ also had a maximum evacuation limit of one hundred fifty (not that Grey was hoping to have to evacuate anybody on her first mission). The ship also had the usual equipment layout as most mid-range explorers, a Class-four translight drive, simulation chambers for both training scenarios and recreation, a series high-density deflector screens and plasma torpedoes and pulse-wave cannons for defense. It also boasted an array of science labs of varying sizes and capabilities, which went well with the high-resolution quantum sensor suite that could allow its crew to scan an entire star system in a matter of minutes from up to half a light-year away.

And he was all Grey’s.

******

**Terralysium Orbital Dockyards**

The next day, Grey found herself standing before yet another mirror in yet another washroom, only this time she was feeling far more confident that she had yesterday. Taking another steadying breath, she smoothed out her uniform tunic, admiring the green division color that signified that she was a commander.

The basic Commonality fleet uniform was black with separate trousers and boots and a closefitting, collarless jacket and a black undershirt; rank was indicated by a series of horizontal stripes on the sleeves of the jacket in the same color as whatever division the officer belonged to, going up in number from zero for enlisted officers, to one for an ensign, to four for a captain.

The divisions were represented by both a small circular silver badge over the left breast which featured an insignia of that particular division and by the color of the jacket itself; both the front and back of the jacket were colored one of the five different division colors, while the jacket’s sleeves were left the same basic black as the trousers with the exception of the rank stripes.

Command was represented by green and the insignia was a simplified version of the Commonality seal; a simplified DNA double helix against a field of stars, gold represented Engineering and the insignia was a pair of interlocked gears, this color being worn those officers responsible for maintain and repairing Commonality starships and facilities as well as by pilots and navigators.

Blue represented Sciences, the insignia for this division was a simplified representation of an atom; this uniform was worn by those officers who studied the mysteries of the universe. While white was worn by Medical, worn by the doctors and nurses that served aboard starships and space stations, its insignia was a cross, a cultural holdover from Earth and the long-gone Solarian Expanse, and finally, red was worn by Security, who had the vital, if unfortunate, job of defending a ship and its crew from hostile forces, its insignia was a simple shield.

Finally, for flag officers holding the rank of admiral or higher, the division color was purple, which—if the rumor was to believed—hailed back to a tradition from Old Earth about purple being a color reserved for royalty, and one’s rank was indicated by gold stripes, with the insignia being the same as those in Command only rendered in gold rather than silver.

Rounding out this collection were various uniform variants that could be worn for various reasons; hazardous materials handling, surgery, and planetary excursions were the most common, anatomical differences being another, the Varda for example, despite being some of the best scientists in the Fleet had no arms or legs, and thus members of their species who served in the fleet either wore a heavily-modified uniform or, more often than not, none at all.

Smoothing out her green jacket, Grey gave the hemline a tug and gave the division badge bit of a rub to polish it. In addition to signifying what division an officer worked in, the badge also acted as a form of identification, containing an officer’s name, rank, service number, a brief medical history, and any religious information, the information was inscribed on the back of the badge as well contained digitally on a microchip within the badge proper, ensuring that a fallen officer could be quickly identified and treated for any injuries, or—in a worst case scenario—identified so that their body could be returned to their family.

“Captain Howlin?”

Looking up at the hail, Grey touched the control panel to her left.

“Howlin here, go ahead”

“ _Shuttlecraft 42 has arrived to take you to your ship, Captain_ ” the voice announced.

“Understood,” Grey replied. Closing the channel, she took a breath “show time” she muttered…

******

As the capital of the Commonality, the orbital dockyards over Terralysium were some of busiest and crowded orbital dockyards if not the largest. The dockyards encompassed several orbital facilities and habitats, some of which were so large that they could be seen from the planet’s surface even in broad daylight.

Compared to these massive miniature floating cities, the shuttlecraft was practically microscopic as it swooped in and out the bustling docks, the pilot, a Solari male, having to make frequent course corrections to avoid the various other ships.

“So, first command?” he asked.

Standing behind his seat, Grey blinked.

“How’d you tell?” she wondered.

“Eh, you got that half-excited, half-terrified look on you,” he shrugged. He swiveled the chair round to face her, giving her an easy smile “relax, you’ll do fine” he assured her, somehow managing to maintain the shuttle’s path without looking.

“You seem pretty confident of that” Grey grumbled as he turned back to the helm.

“Eh, I’ve served under a lot of new captains in my time,” he shrugged “most of them either get over their first day jitters easy or they break under the strain”

“Thanks,” Grey sneered “you’re making me feel _really_ better here, Lieutenant”

“Hey, just telling like it is,” he shrugged “by the way,” he awkwardly offered a hand over his shoulder “Lt. Edmund Graylin, I’m your new helmsman”

“Grey Howlin,” she shook his hand “my new helmsman huh?” she mused.

“Yes, ma’am,” she could hear the grin in his voice “relax, most of us on the _Endeavor_ are good folks” he told her as the shuttle slowed, a ship coming into view.

Grey leaned forwards over the pilot’s seat to try and get a better view.

“Is that it?” she asked.

“Yep,” Edmund Graylin nodded “that’s him”

The ship was sleek, a curving arrowhead-shaped body which widened ever so slightly at the rear into three closed rings which were posed one atop another horizontally, the uppermost and bottommost rings curved up and down from the main hull of the ship respectively, reminding Grey of the sails of the some ancient ship at sea, while the soft blue glow of the engines gave it an almost-soothing quality befitting its status as an exploration vessel rather than a warship.

As the shuttle swooped low over the body of the ship dozens of tiny square lights could be seen running along the length of the hull in a series of vertical lines, windows that allowed the crew an outside view and thus lessened the psychological strain of space travel.

In the near-direct center of the dorsal hull, Grey could see lettering on the hull illuminated by a single light, the ship’s name and registry number, and as she read it, she felt herself grin.

****

# C.S.S. ENDEAVOR ECV-8100

****

******

The shuttle bay on the _Endeavor_ was wide and tall, taking up two decks—three, if one counted the shuttle prelaunch room. Standing in neat rows, the dozen or so officers—those who not part of the ship’s larger civilian complement—stood at attention before Grey as she stepped into the room.

Suddenly she was having that ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ feeling all over again. Clearing her throat, she stepped up to the wide yellow line on the deck plating and addressed the assembled the room.

“Thank you all for coming,” she began “I hope that we can all work together to run an efficient and productive ship,” she took a breath, there that hadn’t been too bad of an introduction she told herself “I hope that I’ll get to know each and every one of you in the days to come, but in the meantime, everyone but the senior officers are dismissed”

With a few murmurs, the majority of the crowd dispersed, leaving only five people remaining. Looking down at the slate in her hand, Grey nodded as she read the list of names.

“Lt. Cmdr. Kite,” she read as she approached the officer in question “second officer. You’re…a Javein, yes?”

The tall, willowy raptor-like being nodded, it’s thin, spindly body towering a good foot over Grey, the bright metallic sheen of her feather’s gleaming in the light.

“ _Yes, Captain,_ ” she said in a humming-musical tone “ _I hope that I and the crew meet your expectations_ ” she continued.

“Well, here’s hoping that goes both ways,” Grey chuckled as she moved down the line “Dr. Kaden Fisher,” she addressed the new officer, who, unlike Commander Kite, barely came up to Grey’s hip “you’re an Enhydra, yes?”

The small brown furred woman nodded, her own form was long with proportionally short arms and legs, giving her a serpentine appearance.

“That’s right” she grinned.

“Wow,” Grey skimmed the slate “you have quite the resume, Doctor. PhD in molecular biology, gene therapy, psychology. What in the gods’ names are you doing here?” she wondered.

“Well, I like to go where I think I’ll have the most fun,” the doctor shrugged “and it doesn’t get any more fun than a mid-range explorer” she grinned.

“Well, I hope it won’t be _too_ fun,” Grey chuckled “OK, next, our chief of security, Lt. Vendla….from Varda”

The bright green serpent slithered forwards, her own body equally as wide as Grey’s own and at least twice as long.

“Here, Captain” she called.

“If you’ll forgive me, Lieutenant,” Grey began “but, I thought most Varda were philosophically opposed to military service, that you were scientists first and foremost?”

“Most of us are, ma’am,” the Varda nodded “but not all of us” she pointed out

“Fair enough,” Grey shrugged as she approached the last in the line. A short, insectoid, almost robotic-looking, figure “finally, our sciences and engineering officer, Reflections of Dawn, from the Hive,” she stared at it and it stare back “I’m sorry, it’s just…I’ve never met a collective life-form before” she apologized.

“ _Apologies are unnecessary, Captain Howlin,_ ” the being said in a metallic, buzzing voice “ _we are accustomed to such…unease_ ”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but your species is a eusocial race, yes?” Grey asked.

“ _That is correct,_ ” Reflections of Dawn nodded “ _our species is evolved from social insects. The form you see before you is a construct designed to accommodate and facilitate communication and interaction with non-collective life-forms,_ ” it explained “ _each construct is controlled and operated by a single hive_ ” it continued.

“So…inside, you’re…just a bunch of ants?” Grey couldn’t keep her curiosity quiet.

“ _We are more closely related to the honeybee from Old Earth,_ ” Reflections of Dawn explained “ _but your assessment is essentially correct. Unlike other species within the Commonality, we did not evolve physically, only intellectually_ ”

“Well…good to know,” Grey muttered awkwardly “uh, it says here that you don’t have an assigned gender,” she noted, holding up the slate “do you have a preference?”

“ _The majority of this hive is female as males were not needed,_ ” Reflections of Dawn explained “ _however, we do not have a preference, you may address us as you wish_ ”

“Thanks,” Grey nodded “OK, looks like that’s it. We’re still short a first officer, but I think that we can do without on our first mission. Which, reminds me, our mission is to deliver supplies to the science station on Theta-Gamma IV, report to your posts and prepare for departure”

Nodding, the group moved out, following her out of the shuttle bay…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Enhydra" is the genus that the sea otter belongs to, while a "kite" is a kind of bird. As for the Solari, I'm going on the idea that they occupy the place that Humans do in shows like Star Trek, so they'll be the 'main' species that we see


	4. Departure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're BACK! My original work "Beyond the Stars" is FINALLY being updated! So enjoy! :=)

******

The corridors of the _Endeavor_ were spacious, wide enough for four people to walk shoulder to shoulder without bumping into each other or the walls. The walls and floors were covered with a soft, beige-colored material that had a slightly springy quality to it. At first glance this appeared to be some kind of protective padding but in actuality was an artificial atmospheric recycler; the material, like plants, naturally recycled carbon dioxide into fresh oxygen and provided most of the ship’s supply of oxygen. Since the material didn’t require any maintenance, unlike machines, it could provide breathable air for the entire three hundred crew and their families even in the unlikely event of a full and complete power failure.

The lighting panels overhead, in addition to providing light, also provide the daily requirement of ultraviolet light needed by most species to produce healthy levels of vitamin D.

Travel between each deck was accomplished by a series of lifts as well as a central spiral staircase which ran vertically through the ship spanning five out of the ship’s six decks.

Taking the steps of this staircase two at a time, Grey felt her hand tremble slightly as she gripped the railing, though whether it was from nerves or excitement she couldn’t tell, but the five deck climb up would hopefully settle her either way she decided as she passed the lifts nearby the end of each level and finally emerged on deck A, the uppermost deck of the ship where the bridge was located.

Stepping off the stairs, she walked down the straight corridor towards the set of doors at the end, the doors sliding open as she approached them, revealing the bridge of the _Endeavor_.

The room was oval-shaped and spacious, yet comfortable, not too large and not too cramped. Directly in front of Grey was a freestanding console, which she knew from reading the schematics was an auxiliary console intended to supplement any of the other ship’s functions. The auxiliary console encircled a little ‘island’ in the center of the room where two chairs sat side by side. These were for the first officer and the captain, with the first officer seated on the left-hand side and the captain on the right.

The floor on either side of the command seating sloped down into a gentle ramp allowing an unobstructed view of the main viewer, a semicircular screen that took up the entirety of the far wall and wrapped around the front half of the room, allowed the bridge crew a view of the outside of the ship. Directly in front of this viewer was the main helm console from where the ship was piloted and which could be reached from the command chairs by a single step down.

On either side of the room were eight consoles set into the walls, four on the left, four on the right, each with seating for three individuals. These consoles controlled such functions as engineering, communications, sciences, and security. On the left side of the room were stations dedicated to security and communications, while the right hand side of room the stations were focused on science and engineering.

Taking a nervous breath, Grey softly moved around the auxiliary console, down the gently sloping ramp to come and stand before the captain’s chair.

“Nerve-wracking isn’t it?”

Jumping at the voice in the otherwise empty room, Grey spun around, hand over her heart as she came face-to-face with Admiral Ozawa.

“Sorry,” the Admiral chuckled embarrassedly “didn’t mean to startle you,” she apologized as she came over and stood beside Grey, the two women, one Solari, one Human, staring at the chair “scary isn’t it?” the Admiral remarked.

“Yeah,” Grey admitted slowly “I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t sweating bullets here”

“Don’t worry,” Admiral Ozawa grinned “you’ll get used to it” she assured her as the doors slid open again, the rest of the senior staff filing in, all stopping as they saw the Admiral standing there.

Lt. Cmdr. Kite stepped forward, her iridescent blue plumage glinting in the light as she tilted her head slightly.

“ _Admiral Ozawa,_ ” she acknowledged “ _it is an honor_ ”

“Thank you, Lt. Cmdr.,” the Admiral nodded “at ease, all of you,” she smiled “no need to stand on ceremony for me, I’m just here to give Captain Howlin a pep talk,” she explained. As if to prove this point, she turned back to Grey, smiling “relax,” she told her “and…don’t stand so straight, you’ll liable to sprain something” she added.

Chuckling at Grey’s startled expression the Admiral turned and quietly slipped out of the room. Now alone, Grey awkwardly cleared her throat and vaguely gestured to the room at large.

“Uh, right, uh, please, take your stations” she instructed awkwardly.

Breaking up from the huddled clump, the senior staff did as instructed. The avian Lt. Cmdr. Kite moving to stand at the auxiliary console behind the command chairs, while fellow Solari, Lt. Edmund Greylin moved past Grey to settle down at the helm, giving her a toothy smirk as he passed.

Slithering on past, Lt. Vendla gave Grey a shy encouraging grin as she passed by, curling her serpentine around one of the chairs at the security consoles flanking the left side of the room, the mechanical prosthetic arms she wore moving across the console, while opposite from the serpentine Varda the metallic insectoid Reflections of Dawn settled down at the science stations.

Bringing up the rear and coming to stand to the side of the auxiliary console, the ship’s chief medical officer, Dr. Kaden Fisher gave a toothy grin as she stood up on tiptoe, being the shortest person there, nevertheless she was clearly eager to go if the little hop she gave was any indications.

Finally, realizing that she was the only one left standing, Grey slowly and nervously lowered herself into the captain’s chair, feeling a little electric thrill go through her at the act, her fur standing on end as she settled back into the chair. It fit she realized, this was everything she’d been dreaming of since she was young enough to look up at the night sky over Terralyseium and realized that the moons were not just pretty shapes but were something real and tangible, that they were a physical place that she could go to.

Clearing her throat, she felt her spine straighten.

“Status report?” she asked.

“Dockyard has cleared us for departure” Lt. Vendla reported.

“Understood,” Grey nodded “seal all airlocks and retract mooring clamps”

“Sealing airlocks and retracting mooring clamps,” Edmund Greylin reported from the helm as a deep, rumbling shudder vibrated through the floor “mooring clamps retracted, we’re in freefall” he announced as the main viewer lit up, showing the dockyards and the curvature of the planet below

“Thrusters at one-quarter” Grey ordered.

“Thrusters at one-quarter, aye,”

On the main viewer, the dockyards began to recede as a gentle vibration rumbled through the room. Feeling her fur prick up even further (if that was possible), Grey found herself leaning forwards in anticipation as the dockyards slid out of view.

“We’re clear of the dockyard perimeter,” Edmund announced from the helm. Swiveling around in his chair, he gave Grey another toothy smirk “so, where to next?” he chuckled.

Returning his smirk, Grey chuckled.

“Set course for Theta-Gamma IV and engage translight drive” she ordered.

Grinning, Edmund swiveled back to the helm.

“Course set for Theta-Gamma IV,” he announced “engaging translight drive”

The gentle rumbling increased slightly, giving a sense of power as on the main viewer, a shimmering ring of blue-white light began to form in the periphery before suddenly seeming to collapse inwards in a bright flash before suddenly vanishing just as suddenly as it had appeared, the viewer now showing the stars—normally invisible in the darkness of space—now streaking past the ship.

Slowly standing up, Grey stepped down from the command chairs and came to stand at the helm, grinning madly now.

“Now _this_ is what I’ve been dreaming of since I was a kid” she breathed…


	5. SOS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update! Enjoy! :=)

******

The captain’s office was located just behind the bridge, accessible by a lone door just outside the doors leading into the bridge proper. The room’s purpose was to allow a captain a private space to deal with various administrative paperwork without interfering with the bridge crew as well as allowing them to have private discussions with officers and/or receive classified or sensitive information, as well as just allowing a captain a space to relax without having to go all the way to their quarters, and as such was equipped with a washroom and a food synthesizer.

Currently Grey was using the room to brush up on her crew, in particular the senior staff. First up was her second officer, Lieutenant Commander Kite, a Javein. Descended from raptors and other birds of prey that had been transplanted from Old Earth, the Javein were known for their martial society organized along lines to that of a military hierarchy, with public service to the state being seen as the cornerstone of their society, and the industry of their home planet and associated colonies was heavily geared towards the manufacture of weapons and other arms.

There was no such thing as a ‘civilian’ in their society since as soon as an individual hatchling turned sixteen years old they were drafted into the military or some other branch of public service and remained there until they retired (which was rare though not uncommon) or simply died, either of old age or, if in a combat role, were killed in combat. This idea remained even after they’d helped to found the Commonality, and most Javein could be found serving in the Fleet or in some branch of the Commonality’s civil service.

Lt. Cmdr. Kite’s record reflected this upbringing. Aged approximately twenty-one standard years, she had joined the Fleet at age seventeen and had served on a variety of ships and space stations, and had been the second officer for the _Endeavor_ for five cycles under its previous captain. Her file described Commander Kite as: _‘dedicated and loyal’_ but also cautioned that she was hard on herself, viewing any result less than perfect as a failure. Adding that, like most Javein, she could also be _‘stoic’_ and _‘rigid in her devotion to her duty’_ ; she was not one to fraternize with her crewmates, even when off-duty, the _Endeavor’s_ previous captain warned.

Moving onto the next file, Grey smirked as she read about Lt. Vendla, a Varda, Descended from snakes and similar reptiles, the Varda naturally lacked limbs like arms and legs and initially had no real civilization or society despite being fully sentient, capable of maintaining natural fires but not making it themselves. That all changed when their planet—also called Varda—was annexed by the Saurian Reach, a spacefaring society composed primarily of other reptilian species, all of whom unlike the Varda were humanoid.

Once the planet had been annexed by the Saurians, they had quickly found that the Varda were not only sentient but incredibly smart to boot, an entire planet of geniuses capable of grasping even foreign concepts incredibly easily. The Saurians quickly took advantage of this, giving the Varda advanced prosthetics that linked directly to the brain and gave them the ability to manipulate advanced tools and other small items. With these new, albeit artificial, limbs the Varda were quickly able to improve the Saurians primitive technology, eventually creating translight drives that allowed the Saurians to become a true interstellar species.

But this advancement came at a cost, the Saurians had refused to grant the Varda any rights, enslaving them in all but name. But this would prove to be a mistake as the Varda were the brains behind the Saurians technology, but the Varda were naturally pacifistic, so rather than openly rebel they instead simply left, the entire species boarded a small fleet of translight-capable ships and fled Saurian territory, settling on a new home where they would become one of the founding-members of the Commonality, becoming the scientific minds behind the Commonality’s continued advancements.

This was where Lt. Vendla stuck out. Most Varda were pacifists, they were well-known throughout the Commonality as philosophers and intellectuals who eschewed violence, which made Vendla’s choice to be a security officer unusual. Her file indicated that she was dedicated to her choice though, the _Endeavor’s_ previous captain had described her as _‘committed’_ , adding that she was also more likely to fraternize with her crewmates which seemed to have forged a level of trust between her and the crew, as many crewmembers came to her for advice with issues not solely related to ship’s security, and the previous captain had noted that she had become something of an unofficial ship’s counselor despite being so young.

Leaning back in her chair, Grey mentally filed that information away for later; hopefully she wouldn’t have need for a counselor. Leaning forwards again, she pulled up the next file, the ship’s chief medical officer, Dr. Kaden Fisher, an Enhydra from The Waters. Descended from aquatic mammals, the Enhydra made their home on a watery moon orbiting a gas giant. Dotted with a series of artificial islands that were each floating cities left behind by the original Human settlers, the planet contained a vast wealth of biodiversity, this led to the native Enhydra developing a talent for bioengineering and medicine, often being seen as progenies in those fields of study.

Dr. Fisher exemplified this fact. In addition to boasting various PhDs in a wide range of fields, she had also been awarded the Commonality’s highest medical honor, the Zh’an Star for Excellence in Medicine. Her personnel file described her as being strong-willed and not afraid to speak her mind, more than willing to override a superior officer’s orders or decisions if she deemed it necessary, especially in a medical emergency, with an annotation noting that she often chose her own postings rather than allowing the Admiralty to randomly assign her somewhere and as Grey had already seen, the good doctor liked to be wherever she thought she’d have the most fun.

After Dr. Fisher came the ship’s science officer, Reflections of Dawn, from the Hive. The Hive were an eusocial species, descended from honeybees from Old Earth, they hadn’t really changed physically, unlike most of the other species in known space, who had—with some exceptions, like the Varda—had evolved into humanoid forms. Despite being sentient, the Hive’s thought processes were frequently described as _‘mechanical’_ and _‘coldly rational’_ , and while they didn’t view ‘non-collective lifeforms’ (what they called other species) as inherently inferior they still felt that their collective state where every individual was one part of a greater whole, was a better choice and often expressed confusion at how other species pursued what they considered to be pointless activities, such as art and romance.

As such, the file on Reflections of Dawn was fairly sparse. They hadn’t disobeyed the chain of command, but they had rubbed more than a few people the wrong way with poorly timed comments or questions that appeared insulting. 

Lastly was the ship’s senior helmsman, Lt. Edmund Greylin. A Solari like Grey herself, Edmund Greylin’s file was filled with equal amounts of praise for his skills at piloting and disdain and reprimands for his lack of respect for the chain of command. Apparently, like Grey herself, he had a very ‘relaxed’ view of the chain of command. While he wasn’t outright insubordinate, he apparently wasn’t afraid to argue his point with superiors, and was considered to be _‘outgoing and fun-loving’_ , adding that he was the kind of person who may _‘make the wrong choice at the wrong time’_ but _‘his heart was in the right place’_ , and even the officers who had disciplined him for what they had perceived as insubordination still all agreed that he was a good person.

Leaning back in her chair and tiredly rubbing at her eyes, Grey smirked. It figured that her first command would be a ship full of oddballs.

“ _Bridge to Captain Howlin_ ”

Sitting up, she answered the hail.

“Howlin here, go ahead”

“ _Captain, we’ve just picked up a distress call from the C.S.S._ Martok,” Lt. Cmdr. Kite reported “ _they were attacked by a Lapin destroyer_ ”

Grey sat up straighter.

“I’m on my way” she replied…

******

Stepping back onto the bridge, Grey could feel the change in the air, the room was tense.

“Report” she requested as Commander Kite stood up from the captain’s chair

“ _The C.S.S._ Martok _was attacked by a Lapin destroyer,_ ” the Javein explained in the musical, sing-song voice that all Javein possessed “ _they were able to drive off the Lapins. However, the_ Martok _is now adrift_ ” she added.

“Are there any other ships in the area?” Grey asked.

“ _No, Captain_ ”

“Captain,” Edmund Greylin looked over from the helm “the _Martok’s_ a colony ship. There’re probably families aboard” he pointed out.

“How soon can we be there?” Grey asked, feeling a knot of unease tighten in her stomach.

“Well, if we push the engines to max, we could be there in less than fifteen minutes” Edmund explained.

“Do it,” Grey nodded “yellow alert” she ordered as she sat down…


	6. Territorial Disputes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter SIX! Enjoy! :=)

******

The _Endeavor’s_ sickbay was bustling with activity, nurses of varying species—mostly Solari and Enhydra along with a few others that Grey didn’t immediately recognize off the top of her head—moving about in a dizzying dance that left her head spinning. Stepping over an Enhydra nurse as the small mustelid darted between her legs, Grey approached the relative center of the room.

Sickbay was—like a lot of other rooms on the ship—spacious, with an open, airy quality to it, making it feel less like a clinical hospital setting. That said, if a crisis arose, like right now, it could easily be used to treat patients with a wide variety of ailments. Everything from simple cuts, to broken bones, to massive internal injuries could be dealt with by the medical staff and the state of the art equipment.

“Dr. Fisher” Grey called out.

The doctor looked up.

“Ah, Captain,” she beamed, pulling herself up to her full height (which meant that she just barely came up to Grey’s hip) “I did mention I liked my assignments to be fun, didn’t I?” she grinned.

“Well, this wasn’t what I was expecting for my first command” Grey pointed out.

“Ah, but that’s what makes life interesting” Dr. Fisher chuckled as she loaded a medkit and slung it over her back. The kit, while small for someone like Grey, looked comically oversized on the doctor’s small form. Despite that she didn’t seem to have any problems with its weight.

“Need some help with that?” Grey asked.

Dr. Fisher chuckled.

“You’ve never really had much interaction with Enhydra before, have you?” she grinned “we’ve have a very dense musculoskeletal structure” she explained.

“Meaning?” Grey asked.

“Meaning that, even though I’m smaller than you, I could still knock you flat on your fluffy tail” Dr. Fisher grinned.

Grey found herself reflexively looking back behind herself at her tail.

“It’s not that fluffy” she muttered as a blur of motion suddenly caught her attention. Turning back to where Dr. Fisher had been standing she grunted in surprise as a brown blur suddenly shot up her leg, scurrying up across her chest before a heavy weight was suddenly standing on her shoulder.

“See?” Dr. Fisher grinned as she casually leaned against Grey’s head.

“Point taken,” Grey groaned as the doctor rapidly scurried back down to the floor. Flexing her shoulder and neck, Grey shook her head “you don’t give a shit that I’m the captain do you?” she remarked.

“Not really, no,” Dr. Fisher shook her head “don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to out and out disobey a direct order,” she assured Grey “but don’t expect me to jump every time you say so” she continued

“The Common Expeditionary Fleet isn’t a military organization” Grey pointed out.

“Maybe not,” Dr. Fisher nodded “but they sure as hell act like it sometimes,” she remarked “besides, it’s too soon to tell how you’ll work out” she added.

“Oh nice” Grey scoffed, but she couldn’t keep the grin off her face. She was starting to like the doctor already.

“Any word on the _Martok_?” Dr. Fisher asked.

“Nothing yet,” Grey shook her head “they haven’t responded to our hails and we haven’t heard any updates” she explained.

“So in short we don’t know what we’re walking into” Dr. Fisher summarized.

“Yep” Grey nodded.

“ _Bridge to Captain Howlin_ ”

Looking up at the hail, Grey tapped the small square comm attached to her uniform jacket sleeve.

“Go ahead”

“ _We’re approaching the_ Martok’s _last known coordinates_ ”

“Understood,” Grey nodded “take us out of translight and raise deflector screens”

“ _Acknowledged_ ”

Turning back to Dr. Fisher, Grey took a breath.

“Doctor, I’d like you to report to the shuttle bay,” she instructed “bring as many medical personnel as you can. A security team will be waiting there”

“A security team?” Dr. Fisher echoed “is it that bad?”

“The _Martok_ was attacked by a Lapin destroyer, Doctor” Grey reminded her

Dr. Fisher nodded grimly

“And the Lapin aren’t known for giving up easily” she noted.

“No,” Grey nodded “they’re not”

******

Stepping onto the bridge, Grey took a steadying breath

“Report” she called out with far more confidence than she actually felt

“The _Martok_ is adrift” Edmund Greylin reported from the helm.

“Let’s see it,” Grey nodded as she stepped down to stand by the helm.

On the main viewer the image changed to show the C.S.S. _Martok_. Unlike the sleek, sculpted arrowhead-shape of the _Endeavor_ , the _Martok_ more closely resembled a rectangle, or perhaps an elongated octagon, while at the ship’s midsection was a wide ring encircling the ship, the translight engines, while the sublight engines rested at the rear of the ship. Neither the translight or sublight engines were not working as the ship was obviously drifting listlessly in a slow—almost-lazy—motion.

“What’s her status?” Grey asked.

Reflections of Dawn looked up

“ _We are detecting power fluctuations,_ ” they began “ _it appears that the vessel has lost main power and propulsion_ ” they concluded.

“Life-signs?” Grey asked.

“ _Several,_ ” Reflections of Dawn confirmed “ _however, we are unable to determine the exact number of individuals aboard_ ”

“Isn’t there a register for the colony?” Edmund asked.

“ _There is no registered colonial file for the C.S.S._ Martok _in current Commonality records_ ” Reflections of Dawn explained.

“Narrow your search to the Terraformation and Colonialization Administration,” Grey instructed “in the meantime, Lt. Vendla, hail the _Martok_ ”

“Captain,” Lt. Vendla looked up “there’s another ship coming into range”

Grey felt her fur stand on end, a nervous bolt of energy shooting down her spine.

“Lapin?” she asked.

“No,” Vendla shook her head “Saurian”

“Saurian?” Grey echoed “on screen”

On the main viewer the image changed from the drifting _Martok_ to another ship. This newcomer had a similar sleek quality to its design like the _Endeavor_ but it was sharper, looking more like the blade of a knife or dagger.

“They’re hailing us” Vendla reported.

“Put ‘em through” Grey nodded.

As the image changed once again, Grey felt her lips unconsciously twist in disquiet. The Commonality had been founded on the ideas of tolerance and mutual understanding and respect, the constant exposure to new species and new ideas and concepts had swiftly eradicated xenophobia from the cultural mindset of its citizenry. That being said, some species were just uglier than others.

The Saurians fit this description to a T. Descended from various reptiles from Old Earth, they were covered from head to toe in sickly yellow colored scales with bright orange eyes which bulged from their heads slightly and mouths filled with irregular, needle-like teeth, all fitted to a stocky body, the average Saurian looked more like something that a child might create out of modeling clay rather than a natural product of evolution. In short, they wouldn’t be winning most beauty contests any time soon.

Of course, what did Grey know? For all she knew by Saurian standards she was the ugliest thing to walk on two legs.

The Saurian captain’s bright orange eyes narrowed at her from across the gulf of space that separated them. Lips pulling back in what looked like a sneer, the Saurian let out a wheezing, raspy-sounding hiss.

“ _I am Commander Locnar,_ ” they identified themselves in a decidedly feminine rasping whisper-like voice “ _you have violated a territorial annex of the Saurian Reach,_ ” she continued “ _withdraw or be fired on_ ”

Grey took a breath; this was it, her first shot at diplomacy. What a day this was turning out to be!

“Captain Grey Howlin of the Commonality starship _Endeavor_ ,” Grey introduced herself “Commander, it isn’t our intentions to violate your territory,” she explained “but, as you can see, we’re in the middle of a rescue operation of a fellow Commonality ship,” she took a breath “would you care to assist?”

Command Locnar’s eyes narrowed further.

“ _And_ why _has a Commonality ship suddenly entered_ our _territory?_ ” she asked.

Grey frowned; recalling the dossier on the Saurian Reach complied by the Commonality’s intelligence service. The Saurians were xenophobes and isolationists, however their borders weren’t fixed changing as the planets and stars within their territory naturally moved about—a trait that most other interstellar civilizations, including the Commonality, did as well—however the Saurians would aggressively enforce their claim on it if a part of it suddenly happened to now be next to someone else’s territory. It was because of this tendency that the Reach and the Commonality had never been on the best of terms (the former enslavement of one of the Commonality’s four founding-members didn’t help matters). Fortunately, the Saurians natural distrust of outsiders meant that they were reluctant to commit to a full-scale war and be forced to leave the safety of their home territory. Instead, they were seemingly content with firing on anyone they deemed to be violating their borders.

Steadying herself, Grey chose her next words carefully.

“The other ship is a colony ship which was attacked,” she explained “they’ve lost propulsion and drifted into your space”

“ _And you think that_ we _attacked them?!_ ” Commander Locnar demanded.

“No, not at all,” Grey deflected “the distress call we received from the ship indicated that they were attacked by a Lapin destroyer”

Commander Locnar visibly stiffened.

“ _The Lapin?_ ” she asked “ _my instruments show no Lapin ships in the area_ ”

“The colony ship was apparently able to drive off the Lapin ship” Grey explained.

“ _The Hegemony does not leave survivors_ ” Commander Locnar pointed out.

“No, they usually don’t,” Grey confirmed “however, if we can use this opportunity to rescue the people on that ship we will. Once the crew and passengers are onboard the _Endeavor_ , we’ll tow the colony ship back to Commonality space and be out of your hair”

Command Locnar left out a rasping wheezing hiss.

“ _Very well,_ ” she replied “ _you may enter our territory to rescue your colony ship,_ ” she allowed “ _but remember, we do not tolerate deceit_ ” she warned.

“Understood,” Grey nodded “thank you,”

As the channel closed, Grey took a breath.

“Right,” she declared “let’s hurry,” she said “any response from the _Martok_ to our hails?” she asked

Lt. Vendla shook her head.

“They drifted out of range while we were talking to the Saurians” she explained

“Of course they did,” Grey grumbled as she moved back to the captain’s chair and cued the commline “bridge to shuttle bay”

“ _Shuttle bay here_ ”

“Is the security team assembled?” Grey asked.

“ _Yes, Captain, and Dr. Fisher and her team is here as well_ ”

“Acknowledged,” Grey replied, closing the channel “Lt. Vendla, if you’ll join your team in the shuttle bay?” she asked.

“Yes, Captain” the Varda grinned as she rapidly slithered out of the room.

“Lt. Greylin,” Grey called out “I’ll need a helmsman, your file says that you’re the best in the Fleet”

“ _The_ best” Edmund grinned, already out of his seat and heading towards the doors.

“Commander Kite, you have the bridge” Grey ordered, moving to the follow Edmund.

“ _Captain,_ ” the Javein stood up “ _you will be leading away team?_ ” she asked, her tone clearly skeptical.

“One of my instructors at Common Point told me that the mark of a good captain is to never send your crew off to do something that you aren’t afraid to do yourself” Grey explained with a smirk.

Commander Kite nodded.

“ _Wise words,_ ” she noted “ _good luck, Captain_ ”


	7. Rescues and Reunions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter SEVEN! Enjoy! :=)

******

The _Endeavor’s_ shuttlecraft were typically stored below the main shuttle bay in a dedicated maintenance bay when not in use. Once a shuttle was needed, it was raised up into the shuttle bay via a simple elevator; this elevator also functioned as a turntable, rotating the shuttle so that it faced the shuttle bay doors, allowing the shuttle to simply exit the ship without needlessly wasting time and energy turning to the proper direction.

Commonality shuttlecrafts were surprisingly spacious. Capable of seating six people, not counting the pilot and copilot, a shuttle could, at maximum capacity carry a total of thirty-two humanoids and were divided into three sections, the cockpit at the front, a cabin featuring seating for six, and a rear section that held equipment lockers which stored a variety of equipment, the entrance ramp which also functioned as the hatch, and a food synthesizer that could create food and drink for long journeys. Each section could be independently sealed off from the others by retractable heavy bulkheads in the event of a hull breach. Possessing limited translight capability, they served as the primary method of short-range interstellar transportation as well as ferrying passengers to and from Commonality ships to planets and space stations. They also, in times such as this, served as a vital and efficient way of evacuating a downed ship.

Entering the shuttle, Grey took note of the motley collection of individuals aboard. Four Human security officers stood at the ready, being briefed by Lt. Vendla as they checked their weapons which included two pulse rifles as well as the standard pulse pistols, while two fellow Solari in medical white were loading extra medical kits and conferring with Dr. Fisher. Finally at the cockpit, Edmund Greylin was settling in and working through the preflight checklist.

Nodding politely at the Security and Medical personnel as she passed, Grey settled down into the copilot’s seat.

“Great start to your first command, eh?” Edmund grinned.

“Yeah,” Grey chuckled, feeling her ears flatten atop her head in clear embarrassment “well, the brochure for the Fleet _did_ say _‘excitement and adventure awaits’_ ”

“Not when I joined it didn’t,” he chuckled as he cued the commline “Shuttle 1 to bridge, are we clear for departure?”

“ _Bridge to Shuttle 1, you are cleared for departure_ ” Commander Kite replied.

“Howlin to bridge,” Grey hailed “what’s the status of the _Martok_ and the Saurians?”

“ _The_ Martok _continues to drift,_ ” Kite replied “ _the Saurian vessel remains at its previous position_ ”

“Understood,” Grey replied “keep an eye on both and let me know as soon as anything changes” she ordered.

“ _Acknowledged, Captain_ ” Kite replied.

Turning back to Edmund, Grey nodded.

“Take us out, Lieutenant”

“Taking us out” Edmund grinned as the shuttle bay doors slid open, the environmental containment field which kept the bay from decompressing shimmering at the edges of the entryway. Fingers moving across the controls with practiced ease, Edmund easily sent the shuttle gliding through the field with a shimmer of blue to glide out past the massive sweeping curves of the _Endeavor’s_ translight engines to glide over the main body of the ship towards the drifting _Martok_.

“Looks like they took quite a beating,” Grey noted as she peered at the other ship through the shuttle’s wide viewport before looking down at the console “I’m still not getting any individual life-signs,” she noted “just a big…blob”

“Yeah, me too,” Edmund nodded “wonder why they haven’t responded to our calls either?”

“Their commlines could be down,” Grey shrugged “taken out when the Lapin attacked”

“Maybe,” Edmund nodded as he studied his console “found the docking port”

“That’s going to be tough to dock with him tumbling like that” Grey noted.

Edmund smirked at her.

“Guess that’s why you asked for me,” he chuckled “matching attitude and pitch,”

Slowly, the shuttle rolled, rotating to match the _Martok’s_ slowly lazy tumble. Of course in the vacuum of space, the ship was actually moving at an incredibly fast rate of speed despite how it appeared to the people in the shuttle. Holding her breath, Grey watched as Edmund’s fingers danced across the controls like a musician playing an instrument, gently and carefully rotating the shuttle around so that the rear faced the docking port.

From the rear of the shuttle a docking collar extended to connect with the hull of the _Martok_ around the docking port.

“Docking collar secure, opening rear hatch” Edmund announced.

Getting up, Grey made her way across the cabin towards the rear hatch which slowly opened to form a ramp that now led into the extended docking collar, the battered and scratched airlock hatch of the _Martok_ standing in stark contrast to the otherwise pristine walls of the docking collar. Coming to a stop at the airlock, Grey pulled out her comscanner.

The small, handheld device was a multipurpose tool that was part of the standard kit for members of the Commonalty’s Common Expeditionary Fleet, being issued to everyone from a newly-graduated Ensign to semi-retired admiral, with neighboring powers like the Saurian Reach and the Lapin Hegemony having their own versions. Whatever the differences in design principles, all versions chiefly functioned as both a scanner and a communicator, allowing an away team to communicate with a ship from as far away as a planet’s surface, capable of sending and receiving both audio and visual messages as well as text messages in real-time, as well as allowing a host ship to see whatever the away team was seeing.

As a scanner, the device was chiefly used in scanning the surrounding environment, everything from the quality and content of a planet’s atmosphere to whether the water was safe to drink or the plants were safe to eat, to scanning for life-signs, or finding a fault in ship’s system.

The version used by the Commonality was rectangular in shape, with a touch-sensitive graphical interface that could be quickly changed by the user depending on the situation and a popup screen that extended when in use.

Switching the device to scan mode, Grey frowned as she read the results.

“Primary relays in the airlock are fused,” she announced. She looked back towards the security team “get a manual release servo and get this door open”

“Aye, Captain”

Going to one of the equipment lockers, one of the Security officers grabbed the requisite device. Pulling a panel loose from the side of the airlock, the officer gestured to one his fellows who helped him attach the device to the inside of the panel. With a quiet _click_ the device secured itself. Nodding at each other, the two officers began to slowly turn the long handle.

With a creaking groaning hiss, the airlock door pushed inwards with a heavy _thud_ , a row of lights outlining the door lighting up as the door slowly slid back

“Weapons ready” Lt. Vendla ordered.

The two remaining security officers readied their weapons as the door finally slid open, revealing a disheveled and decidedly startled-looking Solari man holding a pulse rifle, his face breaking out into a relieved grin as he saw them.

“Stand down,” Grey ordered. Smirking at the young man, she took a step forwards “Captain Howlin of the C.S.S. _Endeavor_ ” she introduced herself.

“Chief Willuf,” the man nodded “oh,” he awkwardly handed her the rifle “sorry, didn’t know who you guys were. Thought you might have been the Lapins coming to finish us off”

“Smart idea,” Grey nodded “Chief, what’s going on here?” she asked “why didn’t you answer our hails?”

“Oh,” Willuf’s expression became guarded “our main comm array went down during the attack,” he explained “we can receive messages, but not send any,” he gestured inside the ship “please” he invited.

“Let’s go,” Grey nodded, the Security and Medical teams following her inside the airlock and into the corridor at the other end. The corridor beyond the airlock’s second door was dim, lit only by emergency lighting, the air thick with the stench of smoke and burning metal. Tucking her comscanner onto her belt, Grey pulled her flashlight out, the small, high-powered light illuminating the corridor which was littered with debris and the bodies of the wounded, Dr. Fisher and teams already getting to work treating the injured.

Turning back to Lt. Vendla and her team, Grey nodded down the other end of the corridor.

“Secure the ship,” she ordered “and try to get that comm array back up” she added.

“Aye” Vendla nodded, already slithering down the corridor with her team.

Turning back to where Dr. Fisher and her team were, Grey crouched down.

“Well?” she asked the doctor.

“Well, I’ll have to see the rest of the crew,” Dr. Fisher began “but these folks will probably be all right provided that we get them back to the ship” she pronounced.

“Good to hear,” Grey nodded, as she pulled her comscanner out “Howlin to _Endeavor_ ”

“Endeavor _here_ ” Commander Kite replied.

“We’re on the _Martok_ ,” Grey explained “we’ve got wounded here”

“ _We will begin sending addition shuttles, Captain_ ” Kite replied.

“Good,” Grey replied “how’re our scaly friends doing out there?”

“ _The Saurians continue to hold their position,_ ” Kit reported “ _they have not made any aggressive overtures_ ”

“Keep an eye on them, Howlin out,” closing the channel, Grey stood up and headed back to the shuttle “we’ve got wounded here. Looks like you’re going to be a taxi service, Lieutenant” she told Edmund who had remained at the helm.

“Hey, piloting’s piloting,” he shrugged “get as many wounded as you can in here and then I’ll get ‘em back to the _Endeavor_ ”

“Got it,” Grey nodded, moving to leave, but then paused, turning back to him “you’re not bothered by much are you?” she noted.

“Nah, not really,” he shrugged “problem?”

“No,” she shook her head “just surprised”

Heading back into the corridor, she flagged down Dr. Fisher.

“We’re going to start a rotation of shuttles to ferry the wounded back to the _Endeavor_ ,” she explained “get as many as you can aboard the shuttle here”

“Aye” Dr. Fisher nodded.

“Chief Willuf,” Grey waved to get the man’s attention “how many people are onboard?”

“Uhh…I’m not sure,:” he replied “the XO might,” he added hopefully “she’s down here, follow me,”

Doing as instructed, Grey found herself sidestepping bits of debris and ducking under cabling that dangled down from the ceiling, the smell of burning metal and melting plastiform clinging to her uniform and fur and making her nose itch and sting as she followed the bobbing light from Willuf’s flashlight.

“We’ll have to climb over here,” Willuf warned, gesturing towards the large piece of debris that partially blocked the path forwards.

Watching how he went, Grey matched his movements as best as possible, getting her sleeve caught once or twice but managed to make it through with no injury. Ducking under another tangle of low-hanging cabling, Grey followed Willuf towards a door marked ‘AUXILIARY CONTROL’. Attaching another manual servo release, Willuf tugged the door open.

“Commander?” he called out into the darkened room “got the Captain of the _Endeavor_ here”

“Tell him to wait,” a woman’s voice called back “I’m busy”

Grey frowned, she knew that voice. Pushing past Willuf, she carefully tiptoed through the room, here the scent of burning was much less and she caught a whiff of a familiar scent. Rounding a corner, she found another officer crouched under a console, sparks of electricity lighting up the small space, and even though Grey couldn’t see their face, she knew who it was.

“Hello, Circe” she said softly.

The other officer looked up, her ears pricking up in surprise.

“Mom?!” she exclaimed….


	8. Boarding Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter EIGHT! Enjoy! :=)

******

For a long moment, Grey and her daughter stared at one another.

“Circe” Grey finally acknowledged, her tone flat.

“Mom” Circe replied in the same frosty tone.

“You’re looking good” Grey finally acknowledged.

“No thanks to you” Circe scoffed.

“You left” Grey pointed out.

“You threw me out” Circe scoffed.

“I did no such thing!” Grey exclaimed “ _you_ left!”

“No! _You_ threw me out!”

“I did not!” Grey insisted “I downright _begged_ you to stay!” she turned towards Chief Willuf who remained huddled by the doorway “I didn’t throw her out” she insisted.

“OK” he said in a tone that indicated that he _really_ didn’t want to get involved.

Turning back to Circe, Grey sighed tiredly and rubbed at her muzzle.

“OK, look, whatever’s happened between us isn’t important right now,” she began “what is important is that there’s a Saurian ship hanging out there who want us gone. So, let’s put our differences aside and get everybody off this ship before they decide to start shooting,” she pointed out. She awkwardly offered a hand “truce?”

“Truce” Circe sighed; taking the offered hand, grunting in surprise as Grey suddenly pulled her forwards into a tight embrace. Stiffening, she let out a long drown out sigh before sagging into her mother’s arms, burying her nose into Grey’s shoulder and breathing in the familiar scent, the very first scent she had ever smelled.

Pulling back, Grey held her at arms’ length, letting out a soft laugh as she looked Circe up and down.

“Oh, look at you,” she breathed “a Commander,” she shook her head, letting out a breathless laugh “last time I saw you, you wanted nothing to do with the Fleet”

“Things change,” Circe shrugged “and look at you,” she grinned “ _Captain_ Howlin! How long has this been going on?”

“Just started,” Grey shrugged “first day on the job”

“Oh yeah? How’s that treating you?”

“I’ll let you know”

“Ahem”

Both women looked back at Chief Willuf.

“Hate to break this up,” he began awkwardly “but, uh Saurians?” he reminded them.

“Right,” Grey nodded, turning back to Circe “how many passengers onboard this ship?”

“ _Lt. Vendla to Captain Howlin_ ”

Pausing, Grey pulled her comscanner out.

“Howlin here”

“ _Captain, we’re in main engineering,_ ” Lt. Vendla explained “ _and, well, the room’s taken a beating, but apparently the comm array’s perfectly intact_ ”

Grey frowned.

“No damage at all?” she asked.

“ _Nothing that couldn’t have been fixed by the time we arrived_ ” Vendla replied.

“Right,” Grey said slowly “continue repairs”

“ _Aye, Captain_ ”

Closing the channel, Grey turned to Circe and Chief Willuf.

“All right, what is going on here?” she demanded “your comm array is fine but you wouldn’t answer our hails and we still can’t get accurate life-sign readings”

Circe and Willuf looked between each other.

“Come on” Circe sighed, leading Grey out of the room…

******

Circe led the pair down the corridor and towards the midsection of the ship, stopping at a set of heavy doors marked ‘MAIN PASSENGER CABIN’

“We blocked off this area of the ship,” Circe explained as she entered a long complex-looking passcode into the panel by the door “set up field dampeners to scramble any individual life-signs”

“Why?” Grey asked.

Circe looked up at her, sighing heavily as the doors slid open, revealing several huddled figures. Feline in appearance, they were dressed in loose, threadbare robes that had a homespun look to them, and many of them shied away from the newcomers.

“They’re members of the Kawaji Order,” Circe explained.

Grey let out a slow breath at those words. The Order of Kwaji, also called the Brotherhood of Kwaji or the Sisterhood of Kwaji, were a monastic order famed for their charity and dedication to healing the sick and injured. Hailing from the grassland world of the same name, the species—also known as the Kwaji—were descended from various felines from Old Earth. As they had rose to sentience they had formed various tribes which had been in a state of near-constant war with one another, this disastrous cycle of war and retaliation was only worsened as the planet had developed mechanized warfare and, ultimately, nuclear weapons. The entire species had been teetering on the brink of extinction when a mysterious figure known only as Kwaji rose to prominence. While the exact details of Kwaji’s life—even their gender—had been lost to time, their importance could not be understated.

Claiming to have received some kind of divine vision Kwaji had preached a message of charity and non-violence, a massage that the war-torn people had eagerly grabbed hold of. Abandoning their previous warlike ways, the people had swiftly embraced this message, even going so far as to rename themselves and their planet after their savor, and devoted themselves to charity and medicine, destroying or otherwise abandoning most of their technology and returning to a largely-pastoral way of life, often booking passage of translight-capable ships to travel the galaxy to assist the less fortunate.

“The planet that they’d settled on is now part of the Saurian Reach” Circe explained, bringing Grey back into focus.

“The Saurians are militant atheists,” Willuf reminded Grey “they would’ve killed these people without a second thought”

Grey sighed.

“And the Order is non-violent, so they wouldn’t have bothered to defend themselves,” she sighed “why didn’t they just call the Commonality for help?” she asked.

“Come on, Mom,” Circe scoffed “you know as well as I do that as soon as they did that they would have been giving their location away to the Saurians”

“Then how’d you find out about them?” Grey wondered.

“On our last supply run one of the colonists mentioned that a group of Kwaji had passed through, adding that a group of Saurians had also been through the area looking for them” Circe explained.

Grey rubbed at her muzzle again with a sigh.

“Oh, gods, I am _so_ getting fired,” she muttered. Looking up, she addressed the room at large “it’s all right,” she said “we’re going to get you out of here” she promised.

“Endeavor _to Captain Howlin_ ”

Scowling, Grey pulled her comscanner free again.

“Howlin here”

“ _Captain, the Saurians have just launched a shuttle,_ ” Commander Kite explained “ _it is on an intercept course for the_ Martok”

“What?!” Grey exclaimed “what about the Saurian ship itself?”

“ _They had raised deflectors but have yet to arm weapons,_ ” Kite explained “ _the shuttle is estimated to dock with the_ Martok _in less than two minutes_ ”

“What about our shuttles?” Grey asked

“ _The last shuttle has returned to the_ Endeavor,” Kite explained “ _we were just about to launch another when the Saurians launched their own shuttle_ ” she continued.

“Hold off on that,” Grey ordered “but keep those deflectors up” she added.

“ _Aye, Captain_ ”

“Where’s Lt. Greylin?” Grey asked.

“ _The Lieutenant returned with the previous shuttle_ ” Commander Kite explained.

“Good, keep him there,” Grey ordered “we might need those piloting skills of his. Keep me informed, Howlin out,” closing the channel, Grey changed to another “Howlin to Vendla”

“ _Vendla here_ ”

“A Saurian shuttle is just about to dock,” Grey explained “ready your team, but _do not engage_ unless I tell you to”

“ _Aye, Captain_ ”

“Howlin to Dr. Fisher”

“ _Dr. Fisher here_ ”

“Doctor, we’ve got incoming, Saurians” Grey warned

“ _Wonderful_ ” the doctor grumbled.

“But we’ve also got wounded here,” Grey explained “I’m sending you my homing signal”

“ _Understood_ ”

Closing the channel, Grey looked back at Circe as a deep rumbling _thud_ echoed through the ship. Hurrying to a wall panel, Circe frantically wiped the dust off it and, giving it a few thumps with her fist, managed to pull up a schematic of the ship.

“The Saurian shuttle just docked,” she announced “docking port A. That’s one deck down, in section C”

“Right,” Grey nodded grimly “Howlin to Vendla”

“ _Vendla here_ ”

“The Saurian shuttle just docked,” Grey explained “have your team meet me on…,” she squinted at the screen “…deck B, docking port A”

“ _Acknowledged, Captain_ ”

******

With main power out, Grey, Circe, and Chief Willuf were forced to use the access shafts to travel down to the next deck.

“So, after you left, where did you end up?” Grey wondered.

A few feet above her on the ladder, Circe smirked.

“Adama and I went to Earth” she replied.

“Earth?” Grey repeated “by the gods, why’d you go _there_?” she exclaimed “Earth's nothing but a third-rate planet with delusions of grandeur” she scoffed.

“Eh, it’s not so bad” Circe dismissed.

“They still use _money_ on Earth, Circe,” Grey scoffed as they reached the right level, Willuf silently dropping down and, carefully edging around both women in the small space, began to manually pry the access hatch open, clearly trying his hardest to not be noticed by either woman.

“So, just where _is_ your beloved husband?” Grey asked her daughter.

Circe sighed, her ears flattening atop her head in clear embarrassment.

“He left me,” she admitted “and don’t you gloat!” she warned.

“It’s not gloating if you were right,” Grey countered “I warned you, didn’t I?”

“All right, fine, you warned me,” Circe scoffed “happy now?”

“Of course I’m not happy,” Grey scoffed “did you honestly think that I _wanted_ that for you?”

“No” Circe sighed.

“Ahem,” Willuf coughed “door’s open” he said awkwardly.

Looking over, both women climbed out of the access shaft into the corridor, finding Lt. Vendla and her team holding a group of Saurians at gunpoint, Stepping past the three towering guards, Command Locnar approached Grey, the Saurian woman letting out another rasping wheezing hiss, her bulging orange eyes seeming more pronounced in the dim lighting as the armed troops accompanying her fanned out.

Like the Commonality, the Saurian Reach was composed of different species, but unlike the Commonality, which was composed of a wide variety of mammalian, avian, reptilian, and even completely aquatic, species, the Reach was composed entirely of different reptilian species, and while Commander Locnar looked fairly humanoid, the three armed troops who had accompanied her looked decidedly more crocodilian, all of whom looked down their long snouts—both figuratively and literally—at Grey and Circe, as if both women were somehow inferior or lesser than they were, which fit perfectly into the Saurian mindset.

In addition to their xenophobia and isolationism, the Saurians were also ethnocentric, viewing their own species as being superior to others, in particular to endothermic, or warm-blooded, species. In the opinion of the average Saurian, the comparatively short lifespans of most warm-blooded species their own longer lifespan was the reason why many endothermic species were so disorganized and quick to disagree, and while Saurian civilization was no older than any other known civilization out in known space, their civilization was decidedly more static, less open to change; once an idea was conceived it was rigorously tested, and if proven, was seen as being set in stone and considered to be forbidden to change.

“Commander Locnar,” Grey greeted “what brings you by?”

“ _As I warned you, Captain Howlin, we do not tolerate deceit,_ ” she rasped “ _we have just been informed that this vessel is carrying fugitives of Saurian justice. You_ will _turn them over to us_ ”

“Last time I checked, this is a Commonality ship,” Grey countered “and you did allow us to enter your territory to rescue the people on this ship”

“ _That was before we knew that they were fugitives!_ ” Locnar hissed.

“Refugees, Commander,” Grey corrected “not fugitives”

“ _Perhaps to you_ ” Locnar hissed as her own comscanner chirped. Answering it, she was met with a barrage of rasping hissing growls before the transmission suddenly cut off with a sharp sequel of static, seconds later the entire corridor bucked and rolled from some kind of impact.

“Endeavor _to Captain Howlin!_ ”

Frantically pulling her comscanner out, Grey answered.

“Howlin here! What the hell is going on?!”

“ _A Lapin destroyer has dropped out of translight,_ ” Commander Kite explained “ _they have destroyed the Saurian ship_ ”

“Damn it!” Grey hissed “forget about us for the moment! Keep those deflectors _up!_ ” she ordered “we’ll find our own way out”

“ _Aye, Captain,_ ”

Closing the channel, Commander Kite straightened her spine as she sat up straighter in the captain’s chair.

“ _Red alert_ ,” she ordered, the lighting in the bridge dimming as red lights began to flash “ _hail the Lapin ship_ ”

“Channel open”

“ _Lapin vessel, this is the C.S.S_ Endeavor _. Withdraw or we will fire_ ” Kite stated.

“ _They are not responding,_ ” Reflections of Dawn reported, as a chirp came from their console “ _a Lapin shuttle has been launched,_ ” they announced “ _the shuttle is on an intercept course with the_ Martok. _Estimated time to intercept: two minutes and thirty-six seconds_ ”

“Endeavor _to Captain Howlin_ ” Kite hailed.

“ _Howlin here, go ahead_ ”

“ _A Lapin shuttle is on a direct intercept course with the_ Martok” Kite explained.

“ _Understood_ ” Grey replied.

“ _Commander,_ ” Reflections of Dawn spoke up “ _the Lapins are charging weapons_ ” they announced as the ship shuddered from an impact “ _starboard deflectors down to ninety-eight percent_ ”

“ _Return fire,_ ” Kite ordered “ _Lt. Geylin, evasive maneuvers_ ”

“Way ahead of you, Commander!” Edmund called back from the helm as he put the _Endeavor_ into a series of sharp dips and barrel rolls…

******

Back aboard the _Martok_ , Grey scowled as Commander Locnar’s troops and her own people both faced off with one another, weapons drawn.

“Look!” Grey snarled “we can either shot each other, _or_ —and I know that this is a radical thought—we can work together to try and keep the Lapins from killing us all”

“ _And how do I know that you are not working with the Hegemony?_ ” Locnar challenged “ _I find it convenient that my ship was totally destroyed while yours remains unharmed. Perhaps the Commonality and the Hegemony are working together to eradicate the Saurian_ ”

“By the gods! Were you just _born_ paranoid?!” Circe exclaimed.

“There is no conspiracy here!” Grey insisted “but there _is_ a very good chance that we will all _die_ unless we do something! And that’s assuming that the Lapins don’t capture us for torture!”

Another impact, harder than before, suddenly rumbled the ship, sending all of them stumbling for footing. All regaining their footing, Vendla and her team managed to disarm two of Commander Locnar’s three troops, only for them all to freeze as a sharp, high-pitched whistling sound broke the air, sparks lighting up the end of the corridor.

“That’s a plasma torch” Willuf hissed.

“They’re cutting through the hull,” Grey realized. She looked over at Vendla “give them back their weapons” she ordered.

Frowning, Vendla looked between Grey, the Saurians, and finally at the sparks lighting up the corridor.

“Do it” she nodded at her team, who reluctantly did as ordered.

With a loud _bang_ a bright flash of briefly lit up the corridor, shadows falling across the walls and floor as a several figures came into view. The invaders weren’t particularly big; perhaps only three to four feet tall, if that. Each one was covered head to toe in glossy black insectoid-like armor which covered every distinguishing feature, giving a sense of faceless, single-minded conformity. Even their long upright ears were covered by the same kind of plastoid material.

Coming into full view the six or so figures broke rank, raising their rifles and opening fire as soon as they saw the others.

“Take cover!” Grey called, ducking behind a corner and taking aim with her pulse pistol and returning fire, the blue-white bolt of light from her pulse pistol sailing across the empty air and hitting one of the Lapin soldiers square in the chest, causing them to topple over in a crumpled heap.

Taking cover, the Lapin troopers returned fire, the sizzling bolts of plasma fire rapidly heating the air to stifling levels.

Coming out from behind her hiding place, Commander Locnar railed her troops.

“ _KILL THE ENDOTHERMS!!!_ ” she roared, charging forwards into the field of fire.

“I take it back,” Circe panted out “she’s not paranoid, she’s fucking _nuts!_ ”

“Yeah, well, that nut may have just saved our tails,” Grey panted out “come on, we got to find a way out of here” she ordered, hurrying down the corridor…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't figured what 'Lapin' means, look it up, it's French for... :=)

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought :=)


End file.
